


arcade affections

by ebonpyre



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mutual Pining, Realizations, but it's ok, noctis is shit at cooking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:42:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26001352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ebonpyre/pseuds/ebonpyre
Summary: It's Prompto's first time having anyone over at his house, but the fact that it's Noct makes it a little more unnerving. And causes him to realize a few things.
Relationships: Prompto Argentum/Noctis Lucis Caelum
Comments: 6
Kudos: 77





	arcade affections

**Author's Note:**

> school is stressing me the fuck out so instead of focusing on that i cranked out some ffxv fanfiction. enjoy

“So you’re _sure_ it’s okay?”

“Prompto, if it wasn’t, I wouldn’t be literally going there right now.”

“Yeah.” Prompto laughed nervously, leaning up against the window as he propped his phone on his shoulder. “Okay.”

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to hang out with his best friend, not at all. It was just that this was all… new. He would _much_ rather go visit Noct’s apartment, because then he wouldn’t have been panicking for the past hour about his own home. He never had anyone over. Hell, he barely even had his parents over, which was something that he could easily get himself down over another time, because right now was not the time to keep piling more onto the already massive list of things to be completely and totally freaking out over right now.

It was easy to forget that his only friend was the crown prince. But every now and then, something would happen that would remind him of the reality of it all.

The sleek, black, fancy ass car that was currently pulling up in front of his extremely modest house was one of them.

“I’m outside,” Noct’s voice said in his ear, and Prompto remembered with a jolt that he was still on the phone. He stared out the window as Noctis climbed out of the car, giving a halfhearted wave to the person driving (who must have been Ignis. Prompto had met him a few times). Then he turned back before closing the door, and Prompto heard a few muffled _yeah_ s and _okay_ s and _I know_ s through the speaker. Ignis must have been keeping him. Which didn’t do much to calm his nerves.

He looked back over the room for what seemed like the fiftieth time in the past few minutes. No matter how much he’d tried to make it look presentable, it would always feel inadequate.

The knock at the door made Prompto’s heart jump. Apparently Noct had escaped Ignis and walked up while his back was turned. Sucking in a deep breath, he rushed to the door and swung it open.

“Hey,” he said into the phone while looking straight at Noct, who rolled his eyes, grinning slightly as he hung up and pushed past into Prompto’s house.

Prompto watched as his friend went straight for the couch, barely even glancing over the rest of his surroundings, and flopped down face-first. He sighed, a little bit relieved. Of course he wouldn’t even care. It was _Noct_.

Noct grumbled something unintelligible into the cushion as Prompto shut the door and sat down next to him. Prompto poked his shoulder. “Didn’t catch that, dude.”

Groaning dramatically, Noct rolled over onto his back. “I didn’t think I was ever gonna lose him back there.”

“I mean…” Prompto leaned back, chuckling nervously again (he needed to stop doing that, it was probably so _annoying_ ) and looking down at his friend. “I guess he still doesn’t know me that well, and for all he knows I _could_ be plotting to murder you or something.” He smirked. “For all _you_ know I could be. Watch your back.”

Noct fumbled for a pillow, waving it in Prompto’s general direction in the hopes of hitting him. Prompto snorted, then stood up, leaving Noct and the pillow behind.

“What’s got you this exhausted?”

Noct turned his head, following Prompto’s movement across the room. He looked at the blond, deadpan. “What do you _think_?”

Prompto shrugged, bouncing restlessly on his heels. “Maybe you’re just the Prince of Naps or something?”

“Ha, ha. No, Gladio’s just determined to murder me while I’m in my prime.”

“I guess that’s a pretty good reason,” Prompto admitted. “Doesn’t mean you get to rescind your status as the Nap Prince, though.”

Prompto didn’t expect Noct to toss the pillow in his direction, then use it to warp off the couch and crash into him. Sometimes he really did forget he could do that. He squawked, surprised, as he fell to the ground, taking Noct with him, who rolled over onto the floor.

“Fuck off,” Noct muttered, no real heat behind the words.

Prompto sat up, grinning. “King’s Knight?”

“Fuck yes.”

\---

They played for _far_ too long, and by the time Prompto was getting a little bored, the pizza they’d ordered somewhere in the past few hours was completely gone and both boys were sprawled out on the couch.

“Wanna, like… watch something?”

Noct turned to stare at Prompto, lips quirking up into a half-grin, but he still put down his controller. “Just mad that I keep beating you every time?”

Prompto lightly punched his shoulder. “Hey! Not _every_ time!”

“Yeah, I guess you’ve won maybe once. Twice, if we’re being generous.”

Prompto scoffed. “Okay, while _you_ train with all your big, fancy magic weapons, I’m gonna be getting so good at this game that you’re gonna regret even _daring_ to challenge me.”

That half-smile on Noct’s face slowly grew into a full grin. “Uh-huh. I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“Oh, you _will_ see it! And soon!” He paused. “But for now, let’s just watch something.”

As Prompto flicked through shows and movies, trying to decide what to watch, Noct was just kind of… looking around, as if he was only just now really noticing his surroundings. It made that spark of anxiety flare up in Prompto’s chest again, bringing back that restless worry from earlier.

“I like your house.”

That was _not_ what Prompto had been expecting him to say. “Huh?” He looked away from the television to focus his attention on Noct, who wasn’t meeting his eyes and was instead still gazing around.

“I said I like your house.” Noct motioned to the room around him. “It’s… nice. I like it.”

“Dude.” Prompto placed a hand on his shoulder. “You have, like… a castle.”

Noct met his eyes indignantly. “It’s not like I _live_ in it! And anyways… it’s kinda nice to have a change of scenery. I wasn’t expecting some sort of… giant palace, or whatever. I actually like it better than if you’d have lived in a mansion.”

The very last thing Prompto had been anticipating when Noct had said he wanted to come over was to be complimented on his _house_ , of all things. For some reason he couldn’t really explain, Noct’s words spurred a little flutter in his chest, which he promptly pushed down and ignored because that was definitely something to unpack some other time, thank you very much.

“Thanks, Noct,” was all he could think to say, more sincere than he’d intended. Noct turned away, face a little red (or was that just the lighting? A glance out the window confirmed that it was sunset already, which came as a bit of a surprise to him.)

“Have you chosen something yet?” And no, Prompto realized, he had not. He’d kind of forgotten to keep searching when Noct decided to suddenly lay down that oddly sincere sort-of compliment on him.

“So… there’s this documentary that I’ve been wanting to watch for a while, and it’s—”

“If you say chocobos—”

“No, actually, I already saw the one on chocobos.” Prompto gave an innocent smile. Noct huffed in a way that seemed almost… fond, if Prompto wanted to read into things. But that was ridiculous. Probably. “This one’s about dualhorns. You know, the giant—”

“I know what dualhorns are, Prompto.” Noct leaned back, sinking into the couch a little as he got comfortable. “And I have a feeling I’m about to know a lot more about them.”

Prompto beamed as he started up the movie, setting down the remote next to the empty pizza box on the floor.

He got a bit lost in the documentary. It was just that he’d been wanting to watch this particular one for so long, and dualhorns were pretty cool, you know? He ended up hooked on every single detail, subconsciously leaning forward a little with his eyes glued to the screen.

He only noticed that Noct had fallen asleep when he was jerked out of his little dualhorn zone by a very close, very loud, and very obnoxious snore.

Of course Noct would fall asleep during a movie. Prince of Naps and all that. Prompto would have teased him about it, but that would mean waking him up, and he looked so… peaceful, so calm while he was asleep. That scowl that adorned his face so often had melted off, the tension forgotten, and oh Six he was staring, wasn’t he. Prompto averted his eyes.

He suddenly found it a lot harder to focus on the dualhorns now that there was snoring coming from his left that Prompto was trying very hard not to describe with adjectives such as _cute_ , and wait, where had that thought come from? Since when had he found Noctis Lucis Caelum _cute_ ? Well—he didn’t, _obviously_ , because he was definitely _not_ thinking those thoughts, but—well.

Slowly, his gaze traveled back down to Noct’s sleeping form. Maybe he should give him a blanket or something. That would probably make him a bit more comfortable. Yeah, that was what he was going to do. Prompto gritted his teeth, preparing to make an attempt to get up without waking his friend, and then his traitor heart skipped a fucking beat because _oh no this was bad_.

Noct had leaned over in his sleep, and his head was _resting on Prompto’s shoulder_.

Prompto barely stopped himself from screaming, because that would not have made this situation any better. He took a deep breath and tried desperately not to focus on the feeling of Noct’s hair tickling his neck (why was it so soft why was it so soft why was it so _soft_ ) as he stared straight ahead. He could deal with this. There was nothing wrong with it at all. He could totally handle this!

Handling this, to his already mixed-up brain, meant pushing the whole thing aside to deal with later. Which, in hindsight, was not a great plan. But what else could he be _expected_ to do? Seriously.

Prompto leaned into the comfortable warmth on his side and let it lull him to sleep. It was all gonna be fine, right?

\---

Prompto was very much _not_ fine.

He should have counted on Noct sleeping through literally anything and simply moved his head from his shoulder when it had first ended up there, because the prince was very clearly _not_ going to wake up of his own accord. Because he was _still_ asleep on his shoulder, except this time he was pressed even closer to his side (which Prompto hadn’t even thought was possible), and apparently they’d both slept through the entire night that way, because sunlight was streaming through the open window as the morning sun stared him in the face.

He just stayed there, trying to calm his stupid heartbeat enough to think up some sort of plan or course of action, for what felt like centuries. Then Noct stirred, and any progress he’d made on calming himself down was shattered as his stomach did that flippy thing again and his thoughts started racing. _Oh Six, he’s awake, and his eyelashes just fluttered why did I notice that, what am I gonna do now_ —

“Prom?”

And now Noct was awake, or at least halfway there, and his voice was all heavy with sleep and Prompto wasn’t able to stop those very unplatonic thoughts from invading his brain this time. Fucking disaster bi that he was.

“Hey! Noct!” Prompto said, as if this was a completely normal thing that was happening right now. “I think you, uh, fell asleep.”

Noct lifted his head, then blinked a few times as he processed his words, clearly still half-asleep. “Not the only one.”

Prompto pursed his lips. “Right.” And then he just sat there, looking everywhere but Noct’s face because when he looked at the other boy, all he could think of was the feeling of his head pressed into his shoulder and neck and how objectively _adorable_ it had all been and—

“Well, I’m gonna go to the, uh, bathroom. Yeah! Be right back!” said Prompto a little more loudly than necessary as he hopped up suddenly, breaking the trance, and rushed across the hall to the bathroom. Once inside, he slammed the door shut behind himself and slid down to the floor.

Okay.

This was… a thing.

This was a thing that he needed to finally _acknowledge_.

Prompto sighed, putting his head in his hands and letting out a long, low groan. He’d been friends with Noctis for a while now. Not _that_ long, but it’d been long enough since he’d approached the prince that day outside of school that the two had grown on each other quite a bit. Prompto just hadn’t realized Noct had grown on him _this_ much.

Was this a crush? Was that what this was? Prompto had never really had any other close friends before, so maybe he was just mistaking these feelings for something more than they actually were. Maybe they were just… really strong friendly feelings. Like, really _really_ strong friendly feelings. It wasn’t as if he’d actually dated anyone before, anyway. How could he have known what liking someone that way would even feel like?

Maybe if he pushed these feelings down far enough, he’d forget about them, and he and Noct could both go on with their lives without acknowledging them at all. Ever.

That sounded like a solid plan, right?

Right.

Prompto stood up, glancing at his reflection in the mirror. His hair was all messed up, doing that thing where it stood out everywhere as if it were trying to escape from the prison of his skull. To be honest, it kind of looked like a chocobo that had gotten caught in a tornado had made its home atop his head. He ran his hands through it a few times, trying in vain to tame it a little, but gave up soon because it clearly wasn’t going to behave. Hopefully Noct wouldn’t care. It was Saturday now, anyway. It wasn’t as if he would have to go to school or anything.

Instinctively glancing down at his right wrist, he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the wristband was still there; it hadn’t moved while he was asleep. Noct hadn’t had a chance to see what lay beneath.

His mind wandered again. If he _did_ end up dating someone—he willed himself not to think about dating Noct because he actually couldn’t handle that right now, like, emotionally—would he have to reveal that secret about himself? Because if that was part of the deal, it changed… a lot.

But maybe he could push that away, too, just like the bubbling feelings that were only growing more intense with each mental move he made to restrain them. Shit.

He probably would have stayed in the bathroom ruminating and possibly panicking for much longer had he not smelled the distinct scent of smoke.

Something kicked in somewhere in Prompto’s brain, and he had the sense to rush out and search for the source of the smell. He didn’t have to look far, because as soon as he turned into the kitchen, he was greeted by the sight of Noct with a frying pan. It was debatable whether or not any actual edible _food_ was involved, but something was definitely burning.

When Noct turned around and saw him standing in the doorway, dumbstruck, he jumped and then cursed when he nearly dropped the pan; not that it probably would have made a difference regarding the quality of whatever was in the pan. “Uhh… surprise?”

Prompto couldn’t stop the giggle that rose from his throat. “Noct. What. What _is_ this?”

Noct put a hand on the back of his neck, looking away. “So I was looking for something to eat, and I saw this pancake mix in your kitchen, and I figured it couldn’t be _that_ hard, so I…”

“Wait. Those are supposed to be _pancakes_?”

“It doesn’t look this hard when Iggy does it!”

“That’s not a fair comparison! His whole _thing_ is cooking and stuff.” Prompto rushed over to the oven, turning off the stove before it actually set his house on fire. “I appreciate the effort, man. But, uh… I don’t think those are pancakes.”

Noct scowled at the burnt mess stuck to the pan. “Yeah, me neither. I don’t think they ever were.”

Prompto opened a window, trying to waft the lingering smoke outside. “You should get him to teach you sometime. Ignis, I mean. So that you can actually…” A thought struck him, and he turned around sharply, eyes wide. “Wait. Ignis doesn’t know you stayed the night.”

Noct shrugged. “Of course I told him. He would have sent a whole damn search party if I didn’t tell him.” He went back to glaring at the pan in his hand, as if he could intimidate the blackened pancake remnants off of the surface.

“ _When_?”

“Texted him last night. Why?”

Last night. Last night was when the whole _sleeping-on-each-other_ thing had happened. Neither of them had planned on staying the night. Which meant that Noct must have texted Ignis after Prompto had fallen asleep. On him. Which, in the grand scheme of things, really wasn’t a big deal at all. People did that completely platonically all the time! Ke knew it meant nothing. Except, with Prompto’s new bout of realizations, it sure _felt_ like a whole lot more. To him, at least.

“I’m—uh, I’m sorry. For falling asleep… on you, and all that.” Huh. Prompto’s voice was a lot more level than he’d expected it to be. Which wasn’t saying much, since he’d kind of expected nothing at all to come out. “I know it was kinda weird, and I didn’t really mean for it to happen at all, and…” _Why will I not stop talking oh Six strike me down right here_.

“Huh?” Noct raised an eyebrow. “Why’re you sorry? It was… nice, actually.” He set the pan down on the counter, leaving it for later, then started to walk back into the living room. “You make a good pillow.”

Prompto snorted, tension suddenly washing away in a big wave of relief. “Oh, shut up.”

He grabbed a box of cereal and poured two bowls, because there was no _way_ he was about to attempt to actually cook anything after Noct’s disaster. Grabbing them both, one in each hand, he made his way into the room where Noct was, once again, collapsed on the couch.

“You really seem to like this couch,” Prompto commented as he indelicately placed one in Noct’s lap. Noct grunted, but mumbled a “thanks” when he realized that there was food in front of him.

“Never gonna leave your house,” Noct said through a mouthful of cereal. “Just gonna stay here on this couch and let that chocobo on the wall stare me down ‘til I die.”

Prompto looked up at the wall next to Noct, and saw what he was talking about. It was a photo he’d taken himself a while back, from when he had visited the chocobo post and absolutely fallen in love with one of the birds. Before leaving, he’d taken a picture of that particular chocobo, and it had turned out to be one of his favorite shots yet. “Oh, you noticed that?”

“It’s hard _not_ to. Where’d you get it?”

“Oh, I… took that myself, actually. Chocobo post.”

Noct swallowed the cereal he had in his mouth, then made the face again: one eyebrow raised, eyes trained on Prompto. It really didn’t do anything to ease the fluttering in his stomach that he’d grown uncomfortably familiar with over the past… however long Noct had been around him, actually. “ _You_ took that? It’s a really good picture, Prom.” Noct paused. “I mean, I don’t know much about photography and all, but it looks pretty professional to me.”

And there he was, complimenting Prompto again, all nonchalant and casual like he had no idea what saying something like that meant to him. Prompto felt his face flush a little red, and hoped it wasn’t too visible. “Aw, really? Thanks!”

They ate in comfortable silence after that, Prompto relaxing in a chair while Noct took up the couch. If Prompto got a little lost in thought about the _maybe_ -crush that he _maybe_ had on his best friend, well, who could blame him? The guy was right there in front of him.

\---

For some reason, Prompto felt more comfortable at the arcade than at his own house. Maybe it was because he usually associated that house with the resting loneliness that settled over him whenever his parents were away, which was a situation he found himself in more often than not. It had felt like a totally different place while Noct was there, but even still, it wasn’t as completely full of good memories as the arcade.

Because the arcade was associated with _Noct_ in his mind. And honestly, anything associated with Noct made him a little happier, which didn’t really do anything to dissuade the… okay, yeah, it was almost definitely a crush if he wasn’t lying to himself. He knew his mind could be a little thick sometimes, but he wasn’t _that_ oblivious, was he?

He did have his talents. One of them, for instance, was completely fucking annihilating Noct at pretty much any first-person shooter game. Consistently. Noct couldn’t get a single win in.

“Is this revenge for King’s Knight or something?” groaned Noct, watching the now-familiar screen flash in front of him displaying Prompto’s name in the winning spot.

“Do you want it to be?” Prompto turned to Noct, waving the plastic gun in the air teasingly. “Come on. I’ll let you keep my couch if you beat me _once_.”

Noct blinked, unamused. “You know there’s no point making a deal like that if you already know you’re just gonna kick my ass again.” He paused. “And I’m not taking your couch.”

“But you love it so much.”

“Liking to sit on the couch in your house and wanting to take that couch for myself are very different things, Prompto.”

“I just want you to play again!”

“Yeah, just cause you like to win.”

Prompto did his best puppy eyes. “Pleeeeease?”

“No.”

“Dude, c’mon!” Prompto groaned, placing the gun back into its holster. “Look, I’ll put it this way: I’ll give you the _privilege_ of sleeping on the couch at my place again if you win.”

He thought Noct was going to turn him down again, because that was kind of a joke—he really didn’t need to make some sort of bet to let Noct stay overnight again, anyway—but he surprised Prompto when, after several long seconds, he sighed loudly and dramatically and placed more tokens into the machine. “One more.”

Prompto pumped his fist in the air. “Hell yeah!” He picked up the brightly colored fake weapon and skipped back up into place, watching out of the corner of his eye as Noct picked up his to the right.

The game began, and Noct was much quieter than he normally was. Instead of filling the space with banter and shouts like he normally did, he was focusing intensely on the game, making Prompto a little nervous. Looking back at the screen, though, he saw that his score was already _way_ higher than his friend’s, so he smirked a little and shrugged his shoulders. “Looks like you’re never setting foot in my house again, buddy.”

“You don’t mean that.” Noct looked over at him briefly, then returned his focus to the game.

He was right; Prompto didn’t. “Sure I do. You’re gonna be banned from the premises. _Forever_.”

“Are you trying to distract me with threats?” Noct said dryly.

Prompto laughed once. “Me? I would never.”

Noct raised an eyebrow, face distant as if he was thinking deeply. Then his eyes flashed, and he turned fully away from the game. “Looks like you’re gonna win already, huh.”

Prompto kept shooting monsters on the screen, keeping his eyes forward even though he knew he could do this in his sleep for all the times he’s played while trying to get the high score (a title which he hasn’t lost for over a year now). “Uh, yeah? Didn’t think you’d lose hope _that_ quickly, though.”

“It’d be a shame if someone was to…” Suddenly Noct’s hand was right there, in front of him, reaching for Prompto’s controller. Prompto’s instincts kicked in, and he moved his hand away just in time. “Hey, let me have that—!”

Prompto snorted. “No! This game’s mine!”

“Not if you _mysteriously_ drop your gun!” Noct was still reaching, trying to take Prompto’s gun from his hands. It was, admittedly, making it a little harder to get points, but Prompto was still able to aim around Noct’s arms—well, now his entire head was blocking his vision. Noct definitely wasn’t getting any points right now, either.

“Sabotaging me won’t work, I’m too masterful of a marksman,” Prompto boasted as he continued to dodge Noct’s attacks.

“Oh yeah? Let’s see how you…” Then Noct’s whole face was blocking his vision, and the sudden feeling of his warm breath on Prompto’s face startled him enough to freeze him long enough for Noct to get even closer all in an instant until he was touching, touching his _lips_ , and _what the fuck that was a kiss_ . Noct just _kissed_ him.

_Noct just kissed him_.

To win a game.

What the fuck.

Prompto barely even noticed when Noct snatched the gun from his hand and used it to hit an explosive onscreen that reset his score to zero. He vaguely saw and heard Noct cheer when the end screen showed him as the winner. He, even more vaguely, felt the lights of the arcade around him bending and swimming a little as everything else faded away because it didn’t _matter_ right now. That kiss had lasted a half-second, maybe not even that, but it had been so real and shocking that it had pretty much short-circuited his brain. His thoughts were flying by so quickly that he couldn’t even read them; they were just jumbles of emotions with an occasional “what the fuck” mixed in.

“Prom?”

Noct’s fingers snapping in front of his face jerked him back to reality so quickly that he probably got whiplash or something. Prompto knew that he looked like a wide-eyed tomato when he turned to meet his friend’s eyes. Upon seeing Prompto’s expression, Noct stared for a second, looking as if it was finally catching up to him what he’d just done. “Wait…” he said quietly, and as his lips formed around the word Prompto had to look away because those lips had just been on his own. He really was a mess. A _mess_.

“Y-you just…” Prompto pointed weakly at Noctis, who suddenly looked a lot more panicked than he had a second ago. He didn’t finish his sentence, leaving it all left unsaid.

Noct cleared his throat. “Anything to win the game,” he said, breaking eye contact to take out his phone and snap a picture of the screen before it changed. Prompto couldn’t stop his heart as it dropped in his chest. Right. It was all just for the game. He shouldn’t have gotten ahead of himself and assumed there were actual feelings behind it or anything. He really _was_ new at this, after all: both the friend thing and the dating thing. Not that dating was even an option right now, anyway.

But still, as Noct put down his own gun and stepped away from the machine, saying that “Iggy’s gonna be here to get me soon,” Prompto hardly even bothered to stop his (very exhausted) heart from taking over his brain for a second.

“So, like… did that really mean nothing?”

“Huh?” By the way Noct froze, he hadn’t expected Prompto to say anything. Which was fair, seeing as Prompto hadn’t expected himself to, either. But Prompto didn’t back down, which was pretty brave if he did say so himself.

“You… kissed me.” Man, those words were hard to get out. “Did that mean anything?”

Noct was still avoiding eye contact, looking down at the patterned carpet, but he seemed to relax a little when he put his hands in his pockets and had the _audacity_ to quote Prompto’s own words back at him. “Do you want it to?’

Prompto felt his heart pounding in his skull. “I—uh—” He gave Noct an exhausted look. “You already know the answer to that, don’t you?”

Noct was looking at him now, no longer transfixed by the floor. “Do I?”

“Stop answering my questions with questions! That’s not fair.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not good at this.” Prompto suddenly noticed how awkward and nervous Noct looked, and that actually relaxed him immensely. His face was illuminated by the bright, vibrant lights of the video games that surrounded them, lighting up his skin with flashing colors. He looked beautiful.

“So there’s a ‘this’ now?” Prompto managed a grin through his nerves.

“Yeah, of course there’s a ‘this,’ I just fucking… ugh. I wasn’t thinking, okay? I shouldn’t have done that, I probably stepped over like a dozen boundaries by doing that without your permission, and… I guess I’m sorry. I mean, I _am_ sorry.” Wait. Prompto blinked a few times incredulously, almost tempted to laugh at the misunderstanding. Although the fact that Noct was actually apologizing only made his heart melt a little more, because this was a good person in front of him. Noct was genuinely good. Edgy teenage prince that he was, he had an incredible heart, and that only seemed to make Prompto fall deeper into the pit of attraction that he was already hopelessly stuck inside of.

“You don’t have to be sorry,” Prompto blurted out. “It was good. But, uh, quick.”

Noct looked like he couldn’t really process those words. “What?”

No turning back now. “It was over, like, _really_ quickly.”

Noct opened his mouth, then shut it again as both of his brows raised this time. Prompto realized that it was _really_ cute when he did that. “You…?”

“I want to try again,” Prompto said way too quickly. “I want a real first kiss.”

“Oh my god,” Noct gasped. “I didn’t know that was your—” He cleared his throat. “Uh, I mean… yeah. Yes. Let’s… I’m ruining the moment, aren’t I.”

Prompto giggled, actually _giggled_ . He was giddy with nerves and the revelation that this was actually _happening_. “You’re all good, bro.”

Noct made a face. “Don’t call me ‘bro’ when we’re about to kiss.”

“Sorry.” Neither of them moved, and Prompto grew more restless and anxious with every rapid beat of his heart. “So, do we just, like…”

“I-I’ve never done this, either!”

“Yeah. Let’s just…” Prompto squeezed his eyes shut, taking a deep breath, then opened them and leaned in. There weren’t fireworks or explosions in his chest or anything, just the almost frighteningly loud pounding of his heart in his skull. But the games were whirring and beeping around them, and they were standing on that tacky carpet in the middle of the arcade, and Noct’s lips tasted a little like the cereal he’d eaten that morning, and it was all fucking _perfect_.

Instead of the way that the world had swirled and disappeared around him like it had the first time Prompto and Noct’s lips had met, this time Prompto was acutely aware of everything, every single one of his senses and maybe even more. It was incredible. It was all real. Prompto had never felt better about being so completely in the real world.

At some point one of them pulled away (Prompto wasn’t sure which). Then he laughed, quietly at first, then louder when he couldn’t stop himself because he was just so completely _happy_ , and Noct joined him. They were both laughing together in the arcade after their first kiss, and Prompto wished so badly that he could save this moment like a photograph so he could look back at it whenever he wanted. He leaned forward, and instead of meeting Noct’s lips he pulled the other boy into a tight hug.

“Glad I won the privilege of sleeping on your couch,” he heard Noct say into his ear.

Prompto pulled back, leaving a hand (which he clenched into a tight grip) on Noct’s shoulder. “You have _no_ idea how much that freaked me out when you fell asleep on me last night!”

“Of course I do! You put me in that situation, too, if you don’t remember!”

Prompto gasped. “We’re such idiots.”

Noct laughed, and Prompto wanted to hear it again. It was an amazing sound that he didn’t hear enough, and he wanted to hear it again. “No kidding.”

Suddenly, a thought struck Prompto like a lightning bolt. “Does this mean I can’t call you ‘bro’ anymore?”

“Prompto—!”

**Author's Note:**

> i did iggy dirty in this i promise i love him with all my heart
> 
> i kinda don't really like this fic but i'm posting it anyway cause promptis is a major comfort ship of mine


End file.
